Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

I also own rental real estate and my wife manages it (no super expensive properties, just a bunch of small to medium ones).  Not enough to live on, but enough to help pay for stuff if needed. 

I really don't mind my corporate life, and I am now blessed to have a good work-life balance.  My job is OK, I don't despise going to work but just like everybody else sometimes I get tired of updating spreadsheets and making sure the TPS report is tidied up. 

But what I'm really asking about is what kind of benefits do you have in retirement?  I looked at mine, and while I do have some, they're not great.  So I really am not sure what I'm staying for.  I always thought I'd retire in my mid to late 50's, but even if I stayed and did that I don't think the benefits would be all that great.  #1 is health insurance until I make it to Medicare. 

Retirement benefits?  Not sure what that even means.

Pensions were long gone in my field well before I entered the work force.  Our 401K has a decent company match, that's all I got, aside from what I do on my own.

But what I'm really asking about is what kind of benefits do you have in retirement? 

I work for the state and have a pension. It has reduced payouts for early retirement, which means I'm probably not thinking about it for another 15 years or so. 

I assumed every Texas A&M alum was just working to pay the NIL of an overrated 5* recruit or the buyout of a coach just mailing it in for a paycheck 

I think it's useful to have a realistic retirement goal, taking inflation into consideration.  A good first step, usually, is to pay off any debt.  Your house can serve as a retirement asset if it's paid off or nearly so.  If you pay off a car loan, start putting $150 or so each month into a "car account" so you pay off the next one ahead of time.  And I realize for anyone living close to the edge this isn't practicable advice.  I've been there.

A reason I took the job I did was their retirement plan.  It was generous, not a pension, but the company bought stock (in the company) for us each year.  I knew secretaries who worked there 30 years who had well over a million, which was real money back then.  A problem with state pensions can be that the pensions are in deep water (Illinois) and won't be able to pay much in the future, Social Security is in the same boat to an extent.  But even if not fixed, SS would be able to pay about 75% of current benefits, so I don't view it as "I'll never see a dime" kind of thing (I am on it now.).

It's useful not to consider SS until you start getting it though.  And of course the amount you get is based on 35 years of salary where you paid FICA.  

How State and Local Government Employees are Covered by Social Security and Medicare (ssa.gov)

At one time, Social Security didn’t include any of these employees. Over the years, the law changed. Most employees have Social Security protection, because their states have special agreements with us called “Section 218 agreements.” Congress passed a law in July 1991 extending Social Security on a mandatory basis to most state and local employees. These are employees not covered by an agreement or a Social Security equivalent public pension system. 

I didn't know state workers don't get SS.  Found that out about 6 months ago.

Where did you hear this?  Do you a line that says FICA in your pacycheck stub?

healthcare.gov